Chapter 12
The confrontation happened through lawyers in a secure conference room.
Marcus sat at one end.
Celeste sat at the other.
They had not spoken privately since the investigation began.
Raffaele sat across from both.
Claire remained beside him.
No bodyguards inside.
No threats.
Marcus looked at Celeste first.
“You talked.”
She stared at her hands.
“Yes.”
“You always were weak.”
Celeste looked up.
“No. I was weak when I protected you.”
Marcus laughed.
Raffaele placed the transportation manifest on the table.
Marcus’s expression did not change.
Then the Northbridge transfers.
The archived fleet schedule.
Peter Sloan’s notes.
Daniel Price’s toll record.
Marcus finally looked toward his attorney.
Raffaele noticed.
The same reflex Celeste had shown in the departure hall.
People looked toward the person they expected to save them.
Raffaele asked one question.
“Was I supposed to be in that car?”
Marcus leaned back.
“You’ve decided that already.”
“I asked you.”
“Ask your investigators.”
Celeste whispered:
“Marcus.”
“Shut up.”
Raffaele’s voice remained calm.
“Don’t speak to her for me.”
Marcus looked at him.
That surprised both siblings.
Raffaele continued.
“You spent years making people think you were useful because nobody could replace you.”
“I was useful.”
“You were.”
Marcus smiled faintly.
“At least you remember.”
There it was.
Not money.
Recognition.
Marcus had spent twelve years close to power and still felt like hired muscle in rooms where the Corsini name mattered more than competence.
He believed he had built half of what Raffaele controlled.
He resented needing Raffaele’s approval to touch any of it.
“I solved problems you didn’t even know existed,” Marcus said.
“And when there weren’t enough?”
Marcus’s eyes narrowed.
Raffaele continued.
“You created them.”
Marcus did not answer.
Celeste began crying quietly.
Raffaele turned to her.
“You knew he made a move against me after Anna died.”
“Yes.”
“You stayed silent.”
“Yes.”
“You married me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Her answer came slowly.
“Because by then I loved you. And because telling you meant admitting I had protected him when Anna was already dead.”
Raffaele looked at her.
“You didn’t protect me from the truth.”
“I know.”
“You protected yourself from what the truth would make you.”
Celeste closed her eyes.
Marcus scoffed.
“She’ll say anything now.”
Celeste turned toward him.
“No.”
She removed something from her handbag.
An old bank statement.
“I’m saying what I should’ve said eighteen months ago.”
Marcus’s expression changed.
The statement showed a payment that had passed briefly through an account Celeste once controlled.
May you like
She had never understood why Marcus used it.
Now she did.
